REPORT  OF  THE  FOREIGN 
MISSION  BOARD  MEET¬ 
ING 

Held  in  Berne,  Ind.,  June  IITS, 

1914. 


The  session  was  opened  by  a 
short  period  of  prayer.  All  the 
members  of  the  board  found  it 
possible  this  year  to  be  present, 
which  was  very  encouraging.  The 
work  was  taken  up  in  connection 
with  the  reading  of  the  various 
reports  from  the  missionaries. 

1.  The  board  grieves  at  the 
loss  of  Bro.  C.  J.  Frey,  our  faith¬ 
ful  worker  at  Oraibi,  and  mourns 
his  early  death  and  departure 
front  us  and  his  family.  To  the 
latter  we  herewith  express  our 
heartfelt  sympathy.  May  the 
Lord  comfort  them  and  us  and 
also  the  weeping  Hopis.  May 
even  this  death  have  a  spiritual 
effect  upon  the  Hopis  whom  he 
loved  so  sincerely. 

2.  Since  the  missionaries  in 


2  — 


Oklahoma,  upon  request  by  the 
board,  are  visiting  from  time  to 
time  the  Oklahoma  congrega¬ 
tions,  Bro.  H.  J.  Kliewer  asked 
the  question,  whether  .money 
should  be  solicited  while  calls  are 
made  in  the  families  of  the  con¬ 
gregations.  This  question  was 
answered  negatively,  with  the  un¬ 
derstanding,  however,  that  volun¬ 
tary  offerings  should  be  accepted. 

3.  The  board  rejoices  over  the 
completed  translations  of  Script¬ 
ure  portions  and  entire  books  and 
over  the  completed  part  of  the 
Cheyenne  -  English  dictionary, 
which,  according  to  Bro.  Fetter’s 
last  report,  will  presumably  be 
finished  in  the  summer  of  1915. 

4.  Resolved,  to  raise  Bro.  Alfred 
Brown’s  salary  from  $120  to  $180 
a  year  as  soon  as  he,  in  the  opin¬ 
ion  of  the  missionaries,  can  read 
well  enough. 

5.  Resolved,  as  soon  as  possi¬ 
ble,  to  call  a  new  worker  into  the 
Cheyenne  field  in  order  to  enable 
the  board  to  make  such  a  distri¬ 
bution  of  the  Cheyenne  mission 


-  3  — 

workers  that  one  of  them  can  be 
stationed  at  Fonda. 

6.  We  are  glad  to  hear  that 
Bro.  Funk  and  his  assistant,  Bro. 
Meek,  in  spite  of  the  many  difh* 
culties  last  year,  are  still  hopeful. 
Bro.  Meek  is  again  allowed  $180 
for  the  ensuing  year. 

7.  Resolved,  to  ask  the  three 
members  of  the  board,  Kliewer, 
Shelly  and  Musselman,  to  visit 
the  Colony  mission  station  in 
Oklahoma  next  fall  in  order  to 
confer  with  the  Dutch  Reformed 
missionaries  in  Colony,  regarding 
the  proper  division  of  the  Che¬ 
yenne  mission  field  between  Col¬ 
ony  and  Clinton. 

8.  Bro.  Linsheid’s  budget  of 
$150  for  Busby  was  allowed. 

9.  Bro.  Neufeld’s  budget  of 
$100  for  current  expenses  was  al¬ 
lowed. 

10.  Brother  Wiebe’s  budget  of 
$100  for  Lame  Deer  was  allowed. 

11.  Bro.  P.  A.  Kliewer’s  budget 
of  $106  for  Birney  was  allowed. 

12.  Resolved,  to  send  Sister 
Mary  Schirmer  again  to  Arizona 


-  4  - 

for  an  indefinite  time  to  assist  in 
mission  work. 

13.  Resolved,  to  allow  the  bud¬ 
get  of  $450  for  Oraibi,  and  also 
$124  for  Miss  Olson’s  work  there. 

14.  Resolved,  that  the  traveling 
expenses  of  Mrs.  C.  J.  Frey  and 
family  from  Arizona  to  Kansas  be 
allowed,  namely  $54.30. 

15.  In  case  Sister  Elizabeth 
Schmidt  goes  back  to  Arizona, 
the  board  allows  her  $200  for  ta¬ 
king  care  of  the  orphan  children 
that  are  adopted  by  the  mission, 
and  $50  besides  for  each  child 
thus  adopted. 

16.  Bro.  Duerksen’s  budget  of 
$57  for  Pakavi. 

17.  Bro.  Frey’s  budget  of  $257 
for  Moen  Copi  was  allowed. 

18.  Bro.  J.  B.  Frey  is  instructed 
to  introduce  Sister  Bessie  Qua- 
yamyma  into  the  work  of  an  as¬ 
sistant,  for  which  she  immediate¬ 
ly  receives  $25.  How  large  her 
monthly  salary  shall  be,  is  to  be 
decided  upon  later  according  to 
the  work  done  by  her. 

19.  Bro.  P.  W.  Penner’s  budget 


of  $595  for  Janjgir  was  allowed. 

20.  The  ground  plan  for  the 
Memorial  Girls’  School  at  Janjgir 
was  inspected  by  the  board  and 
approved. 

21.  Resolved  to  allow  Bro. 
Suckau’s  budget  of  $595  and  Bro. 
P.  A.  Fenner’s  of  $297  for  Cham¬ 
pa.  The  request  by  Bro.  Penner 
for  $60  to  pay  for  an  evangelist  at 
Bammidi  was  granted  also. 

22.  Bro.  Wiens’  budget  of  $425 
for  Mauhadei  was  allowed. 

^  23.  Resolved,  that  the  board  as¬ 

sume  the  responsibility  of  Bro. 
and  Sister  Wiens’  traveling  ex¬ 
penses  directly  to  America  in 
1915. 

24.  Upon  the  recommendation 
of  our  workers  in  India,  the  board 
drops  the  plan  to  build  a  rest 
house  in  the  hills. 

25.  Resolved,  that  the  request 
of  our  workers  in  India,  to  build  a 
new  station  at  Korba,  be  answer¬ 
ed  thus :  As  the  medical  and 
school  work  is  to  built  up  first, 
before  a  new  station  is  built,  lack 
of  means  compels  the  board  to 


—  6  — 

postpone  the  building  of  a  new 
station.  Meanwhile  the  strength¬ 
ening  of  the  outstation  work  at 
Korba  is  recommended. 

26.  Our  missionaries  in  India 
may  change  their  church  rules,  as 
circumstances  may  require,  with 
the  consent  of  the  board. 

27.  Resolved,  that  such  appli¬ 
cants  for  church  meirbership  in 
India,  that  have  been  baptized  as 
infants,  are  to  be  instructed  in  our 
confession  of  faith,  in  order,  if 
possible,  to  convince  them,  so 
that  they  may  themselves  desire 
to  be  rebaptized.  As  to  further 
decisions  on  this  question,  our 
churches  in  India  shall  have  the 
same  authority  that  any  congre¬ 
gation  in  our  Conference  has. 

28.  Resolved,  that  our  mission¬ 
aries  in  India  be  instructed  to  fob 
low  our  rules  and  practice  as  to 
marriage  as  far  as  circumstances 
there  will  permit  and  in  accord¬ 
ance  with  the  spirit  and  princi¬ 
ples  in  1.  Cor.  7. 

29.  The  question  regarding  fu¬ 
nerals  was  answered  to  the  effect 


—  7  — 

that  the  same  shall  be  held  in  a 
Christian  manner  suited  to  the 
needs  and  conditions  in  India. 

30.  The  rest  of  the  church  rules 
were  approved  in  the  form  in 
which  they  were  sent  in  by  the 
missionaries. 

31.  Resolved  to  permit  the 
building  of  a  small  house  and  a 
small  school  in  Bhotia. 

32.  Sister  Tabitta  Neufeld  is  re¬ 
quested  to  start  on  her  trip  to  In¬ 
dia  about  the  beginning  of  Octo¬ 
ber. 

33.  Resolved  to  thank  the  many 
kind  friends  in  Berne  for  the 
hearty  welcome  and  rich  enter¬ 
tainment,  and  the  “Bank  of 
Berne”  for  the  cool  and  neat  re¬ 
ception  room,  in  which  the  meet¬ 
ing  was  held. 

The  Lord  be  praised  for  His 
guiding  Spirit,  so  that  everything 
could  be  discussed  in  love  and 
harmony !  The  growth  of  our  mis¬ 
sion  naturally  increases  the  work 
of  the  board  and  the  churches. 
We  thank  the  Lord  also  for  this, 
because  He  has  giv^n  strength 


—  8 


and  gifts  for  both.  May  He  con¬ 
tinue  to  do  so,  and  particularly 
lay  His  blessings  upon  the  carry¬ 
ing  out  of  these  new  resolutions 
and  plans.  A  few  important  ques¬ 
tions  were  tabled  till  next  fall  to 
be  dealt  with  during  the  General 
Conference  session.  Dear  friends, 
continue  to  pray  for  us  and  the 
mission  cause.  Let  there  be  no 
stand-still !  About  thirty  souls 
were  admitted  into  church  last 
year  on  our  several  mission  fields. 
About  $30,000  was  received  for 
missions  last  year;  i.  e.  seemingly 
$1000  for  each  saved  soul.  This 
is,  however,  no  fair  calculation,  as 
is  shown  by  the  great  “mass 
movements”  toward  Christ  in  at 
least  six  regions  in  India.  In  faith 
we  can  see  such  a  mass  movement 
coming  also  to  our  missions,  so 
that  we  can  say  with  Isaia  (60: 
22),  “A  little  one  shall  become  a 
thousand.”  Though  Isaia  himself 
did  not  live  to  see  the  day. 

The  meeting  was  closed  with 
prayer  by  Rev.  Sprunger. 

J.  W.  Kliewer,  Pres. 

P.  H.  Richert,  Sec’y* 


